Archive for the 'Racism' Category

Multiculturalism, Diversity, and Racism. We cannot go back and fix the past but we can work on creating a society that promotes the positive relationship of people of all races, gender, economic status, geographic location, educational status, language, religion, and physical conditions through technology.

Here’s a few activities:

Videoconference with a class in another country. I did a videoconference about the math of daily life with students in France and my students said “They are not French; they look like us.”

Do collaborative Internet projects. Compare the results of your school lunch recycling with students in other countries.

Do email projects (modern day “pen-pals”) with another class to discuss your views on a topic such as Freedom. What freedoms do you both enjoy.

Show students what a city/village from another country looks like through the use of images from Flickr or Google. “Those buildings are taller than any in our city.” “What are their huts?” Likewise, showing people from another area doing similar things to what we do (eating, playing, studying, riding bikes, etc) creates a positive emotional link.

Have students read newspapers from other countries to get the perspective of those people. Help them become aware that there are two or more sides to any story/event.

The more our students virtually interact with students and people in other parts of the state, country, and world, they more we help create an inclusive world.

PS. Do not forget various parts of your district that may have different values, economic status, occupations, etc. We had media presentations from our very rich section of the district and from the rural farm section of our district. It was a culturally enriching time for all.

What technology-infused activities have you done that promote positive relationships among various groupings of people?

When someone asks what time it is, that person wants to know the time, not the history of the clock, not how a clock works, and not what other types of clocks there are. Classroom teachers want to help their students improve their academic learning through technology. Sometimes they need help with technology so they go […]

In my public school career I have been a classroom teacher, a technology integration specialist and a technology administrator. In my technology role, I served under the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. She had a simple mission: Improve students’ academic learning. My mission was equally simple: Improve students’ academic learning through technology […]

Once teachers have selected what learning and what digital badges (individual or category badges; see previous blog), the teachers encounter another decision. What will they name each badge? Will they use the full name of the Common Core Standard or the national proficiency? For English, under “Speaking and Listening,”will they write out SL.2 “Integrate and […]

Do world language students use technology n the classroom? Do their teachers go beyond having their students use technology simply for the drill and practice in vocabulary and grammar? Students can use laptops and mobile devices to hear authentic language, read authentic texts, read tweets about famous performers, see up-to-the-moment culture, watch video […]

The idea of digital badges sounds appealing for the digital children in classes. As teachers start thinking about digital badges, they have to figure out what badges will be awarded. The teachers can award social or academic badges. If teachers decide to use academic badges, then the teachers may base their badges on the Common […]

Here are the ten examples I showed at my English + Common Core + Mobile ISTE 2014 Poster Session: Based on CCSS Anchor Statements: L.2 Take a Conventions Mobile Online Quiz to pick the incorrect sentence from four choices (capitalization) SL.2 Evaluate audio recording of a book chapter on mobile and predict for next chapter. […]

Based on my presentation at ISTE 2014 Mobile Megashare Why teach about other countries? Location: Large view to small on maps. Culture or culture. Find six similarities in a mobile picture from another culture (“Wars are caused by differences, not similarities.”-Tuttle.) Tell one piece of information from each different Internet visual from a place in that […]

In my ISTE Sunday 8-10 am poster session, I demonstrate many diverse mobile activities to help students achieve the English Language Arts Common Core Anchor Statements through mobile devices. The mobile activities focus on free common tool apps that are available on both the Android and the iPad. The students use the apps as a seamless […]